Canadian Visa Office in Mexico Reduces Services Temporarily

Due to the out break of the Swine Flu in Mexico, the Canadian visa office in Mexico City has reduced services to candidates seeking visas and has halted in-person interviews related to temporary and permanent immigration applications. A drop box is present to allow for submission of documents and applications.

These steps mirror actions by other nations' embassies in the country, such as the USA and UK. A Citizenship and Immigration spokesman sent an e-mail stating, 'Like many other organizations operating in Mexico City, we've taken steps to protect the safety and health of our employees and applicants by cancelling some meetings and appointments.'

There is no present estimate as to when normal service will resume.

Canadian Immigration Applications in Lebanon

Effective March 31 2009, Canadian immigrant applicants from Lebanon are eligible to process their applications at the visa office in Beirut. This follows last year's change that allowed interviews in Beirut, although applications were still being processed in Syria. Prior to March 31, the Beirut visa office only accepted temporary resident applications such as visitor, study, and work visas.

Dur to recent changes to that system, however, Federal Skilled Worker applicants must submit such applications to the Case Processing Centre in Sydney, Nova Scotia. Similarly, Canadians sponsoring Family Class members will continue to send their applications to the Case Processing Centre in Mississauga, Ontario. However, they will be able to select the office in Beirut as their primary point of service on the application form from this point forward.